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Zimbabwe Harmonised Elections: 2008 |
ZIMBABWE HARMONISED ELECTIONS : 2008
1. INTRODUCTION
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is an independent constitutional electoral management body established under section 61 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Both the ruling ZANU (PF) party and the opposition MDC mutually agreed on the composition of the Commission. This was done to render the work of the Commission open and more transparent. The Commission is charged with inter alia the function of delimiting wards, House of Assembly and Senatorial constituencies, conducting voter education, preparation for and supervision of elections to the office of the President, Parliament, and governing bodies of local authorities. The Commission is also charged with the Constitutional responsibility of conducting Referendums. The Commission has sole responsibility to run the elections. The Government of Zimbabwe has no role whatsoever to play in the running of elections.
2. DELIMITATION OF WARDS AND CONSTITUENCIES
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission delimited the country in terms of the Constitutional Amendment Act No. 18 as follows;
Wards 1 958
House of Assembly Constituencies 210
Senatorial Constituencies 60
3. HARMONISED ELECTIONS
The Harmonised Elections comprising elections to the Office of President, Senate, House of Assembly and governing bodies of local authorities, were held on 29th March 2008 in terms of the Constitutional Amendment Act No. 18, the Electoral Act [Chapter 2.13] and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act [Chapter 2.12]. This was the first time that Zimbabwe held all four elections simultaneously on the same day.
4. NOMINATION COURTS
Following the sitting of nomination courts on 15th February 2008 in the country’s 10 provinces, a total of 5406 candidates successfully filed their papers to contest in the elections as follows:-
Presidential Candidates 4
House of Assembly Candidates 774
Senatorial Candidates 197
Local Authority Candidates 3431
A total of 413 candidates filed their papers unopposed as follows:-
411 for local authority elections, 1 for the House of Assembly and 1 Senatorial. In this event 206 House of Assembly seats, 59 Senatorial seats and 1541 wards were contested.
There were 17 political parties and several independent candidates who contested in the Elections.
Elections were suspended in three House of Assembly constituencies following the deaths of some of the candidates after nomination. The vacancies will be filled through by-elections.
5. POLLING STATIONS
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission established 9108 polling stations in the country’s 210 constituencies. These polling stations were adequate, having been established in both rural and urban centres after consultation with political parties and candidates.
6. RESULTS OF POLL
Voting was ward based. Counting of ballots was done at Polling Station level and the results displayed outside on a V11 form.
7. ANNOUNCEMENT OF RESULTS
Local Authorities
After collation of results at ward collation centres (V23 form) the winning candidates for local authorities were announced.
House of Assembly
After collation of results at constituency level the winning candidates were declared duly elected and the results displayed outside the constituency collation centres and were as follows:-
Seats Won Popular Vote
MDC (Tsvangirai) 99 seats 42%
ZANU (PF) 97 seats 45%
MDC 10 seats 3%
Independent 1 seat
Due to deaths of candidates, 3 vacant seats are to be filled through by-elections.
Senate
After collation of results at senatorial collation centres, the winning candidates were declared duly elected and the results displayed outside and were as follows:-
Seats Won Popular Vote
ZANU (PF) 30 seats 45,49%
MDC (Tsvangirai) 24 seats 43,56%
MDC 6 seats 7,97%
Local Authorities
The results of poll for the contested 1796 wards were announced at ward level.
8. PRESIDENTIAL RESULTS
Explanation as to the Late Announcement of the Presidential Results
The whole electoral process is the sole responsibility of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and therefore any suggestion that the Government of Zimbabwe played any part in delaying the announcement of the results is totally without basis. The Chief Elections Officer, the returning officer for the Presidential election, met with the candidates’ national chief election agents and resolved that the Commission goes through a verification process and come up with the final figure which would then be presented to them for verification before the final announcement.
This process, involving as it does, collating the V11 returns posted outside the 9 108 polling stations established countrywide is a mammoth exercise, which cannot be completed in a short space of time. We have been advised that election personnel have been working round the clock on the figures, paying particular attention to detail and accuracy so that the end result would not be faulted by any reasonable person.
Whilst that exercise was in progress, some contestants raised issue as regards the accuracy of some figures relating to the House of Assembly and Senatorial results, which had already been announced. The contestants drew the Commission’s attention to the anomalies which appeared in the V.23 forms which did not seem to reflect correctly the information recorded on V11 forms, the primary source of all Local Authority, House of Assembly, Senatorial and Presidential Results. We believe that these discrepancies prompted the Commission to decide to verify and audit its work in the affected 22 House of Assembly constituencies and one senatorial constituency; the idea being to come up with correct figures that would be factored into the end result. The Commission has indicated its intentions to visit the affected constituencies with all stakeholders for a verification of the results that were posted outside the polling stations on VII forms signed by polling agents of all participating political parties.
One of the contestants has taken the Commission to court with a request that the Commission should announce the Presidential result within four hours of the time of the order. In a Press Statement released on 10th April 2008, the Commission explained why it has not been able to keep the public informed about the stage at which the electoral process has reached. The Commission contends that the contestant’s application has made it difficult, if not impossible, for it to keep all stakeholders, the nation and the international community informed of the position of the process as it is barred by the Rules of Court procedures from making comments on an issue which is before the court (i.e. sub judice).
9. DISCREPANCIES
Following the collation of polling station returns (forms V11 to forms V23) at ward and constituency level, it was noted that in some cases there were errors of addition. These errors are being corrected.
10. RECOUNTS
Following requests from the MDC (Tsvangirai) and ZANU PF parties, the Commission has ordered a recount in 23 House of Assembly Constituencies in terms of (Section 67A) of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13].
11. MEDIA COVERAGE
The Public Media, both print and electronic, gave equitable access to all political parties and candidates participating in the Elections to present their manifestos.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission monitored the media coverage in terms of Media Coverage of Elections Regulations 2008.
12. OBSERVERS
The elections were observed by Local, Regional and International observer groups that had been invited and accredited. All observers including the African Union, the Pan African Parliament, SADC, COMESA, Non – Aligned Movement and individual countries that sent delegations to observe our elections adjudged the Elections to have been conducted in a free and fair manner and under peaceful conditions both during and after the Elections.
13. ATMOSPHERE
In accordance with the provisions of the electoral law, the Commission set up Multi-Party Liaison Committees in the various constituencies and wards. A National Multi-Party Liaison Committee was also established. The purpose of these committees was to deal with electoral disputes that arose during the electoral process. All parties and candidates actively participated in these committees. Polling was conducted in a peaceful and orderly manner.
12th April, 2008
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